Squirrels
by stilljustme
Summary: My first ever crossover fic! Not much to say about the content, just R&R if you like.


_I just saw Donnie Wahlberg as Joe Grant on "Rizzoli and Isles" and I was like omg-that's-too-cool-to-be-true! So I had to write something. Pre-series for Blue Bloods, and season one for R&I. Don't expect anything too serious ;)_

As Jane finally made it to the bar, Danny had his glass already half emptied.  
"Sorry" she called out from the door, throwing her hands up, "I took the wrong bus and ended up in Chinatown." She let herself fall down next to him. "How long you've been waiting?"  
Danny shook his head. "Not too long, Rizzoli. Good to see you." He waved for the waitress and ordered a second beer.  
"You too" she sighed. "Thanks. Work's driving me crazy right now."  
The detective chuckled. "Why? Not a walk in the park?"  
After a moment Jane allowed herself to laugh, too. "Oh yes, it's totally like Boston Common. Green and nice and filled with little squirrels. Bad squirrels!" Her hands shot up so sudden that she would almost have hit her beer out of the waitress' hands.  
Danny laughed again and raised his glass. "To the squirrels?"  
"To the squirrels!" Jane nodded in resignation. Whatever it took to get her beer.

"So…" Danny looked at his former class mate, "what's the squirrel's name right now?"  
The Bostonian giggled. One of the good things with Daniel Reagan was that he always got straight to the point. And he was direct, to colleagues as well as to superiors – she had seen that when they had first worked a case together four years ago. It had been her first case to cross a state, and though it had ended in chaos and eight victims and the FBI taking over, she was thankful for it.  
Who'd have thought she'd make friends with Danny Badass Reagan?

"His name is… Joe Grant" she said, articulating the name so delicately that Danny almost choked on his beer. "And he's an asshole. You know him?"  
Danny thought for a moment. "Wasn't he with us on the academy? The name rings a bell somehow."  
Jane shook her head. "Wouldn't bet on that, he's ambitious enough to have made it in half our time. And he's not even good!"  
Danny frowned. "I thought he's a detective."  
"He is, but…"  
"Well, then he can be an asshole, but he can't be so bad" he explained firmly. "You don't get to be a detective by being a bad cop. Not even in Boston."  
Jane stared at him in disbelief. "You're on his side? Oh, and New York's not that better than Boston, by the way!"  
"Ah… it is. Sorry, Rizzoli, but it is." Danny grinned self-satisfied. "You know I like and admire you, but you're not living in the best city of the world."  
"Oh. But you do?" Jane bit back a laughter. "So tell me when you've seen your last squirrel!"  
"You count a city's value by its number of squirrels? What kind of cop are you?"  
"I'm a detective!"  
"And I'm not!" Danny shook his head, laughing. "Jane, what the hell are we talking about right here?"  
"Well" she did her best to keep an earnest face, "I suppose we talk about… squirrels. On the obvious level. God, Danny, are you sure this is beer?"

They both laughed, partly embarrassed, and then emptied their glasses. Jane had tears in her eyes from laughing, and she silently reprimanded herself as she backed away. It was so easy with Danny. Of course, he wasn't always in a good mood like now, she had seen him angry, too. He was a tough guy, hard to the others and to himself. And he always had loads of problems himself.  
Still it was so easy to be with him. Jane hated bus tours, but for him she would always do it. Would drive even longer than the five hours it took her to get from Boston to New York every half year.  
Five hours to get her to a man she spent roughly three hours with – and then the memory had to last for six months.

"Jane? You're with me?"  
"Yes, of course." She smiled not to make him worry, but didn't seem worried at all.  
Why should he? She was a colleague, a friend. A good friend maybe. It was as he had said. He liked her, enough to keep on their tradition. He liked her. No more.  
"It's just… this guy… he really drives me crazy."

"Joe Grant?"  
"Yeah." This one, too. But he was easier to handle than Danny. Suddenly Jane felt like coming here was a bad idea. She cared too much for Daniel Reagan, far too much, and he had a family! He had a wife, and kids, and he loved them more than anything else in the world. More than his siblings, even, and she knew that this was a hard thing to do.

"Well, is he a jerk to everyone or just to you?" He seemed really interested.  
Jane brought up a weak smile. "I'd say only to me. Or my other colleagues just don't get it. I mean they're all men. Maybe they don't notice it, but Grant's a… complete idiot. He's been fucking his way up, Danny, I mean it."  
"Uh… watch your tongue, Rizzoli." Danny grinned till he saw Jane's shocked face.  
"What?"  
"Oh my god."  
"What's wrong?" Now he was worried, but Jane was too shocked to acknowledge it. "You just… that… tongue thing, that… you just talked like him! Just like him! I… I need another beer!"

She ordered, not a beer but a martini, and tried her best to ignore Danny's laughter. At least he didn't seem to be angry for being compared to an ass-licker.  
"Maybe this Grant likes you" he suggested, just as Jane sipped her drink. She spit it out at once, leaving Danny to laugh even more.  
"No!" She yelled, loud enough for everyone in the bar to hear it. "Hell's angels, no!"  
"Why not?" Danny did his best to calm down. "It's been a long time since I've seen you so upset about anything. Or anyone. And especially after five hours bus travelling."  
"Oh, don't remind me of that!" she sighed, glad to change the topic. "If it wasn't for the drinking, I's take the car."  
"Well…" Danny shifted uneasy, "Linda suggested you could sleep at our home for that night. If you want to."

His wife. Jane put on what she believed to be a pokerface. His wife was suggesting that her husband brought a colleague with him home for staying overnight. She should know it by now, she would never stand a chance against Linda and her sons. And hell, she didn't even want it! She didn't want to part this family, she didn't want to mingle into Danny's life… if anything, she wanted to be his life, but totally. And that would never happen.

"Thanks, but no thanks." This time she reacted before Danny could wake her up. "If I miss the bus I take a hotel. Or call one of my brothers. Frankie's just bought his first own car, he wouldn't mind driving to L.A. to pick me up."  
"I know what you mean" Danny smiled, "I remember when Joey got dad's car. I mean it's old, it was… damn, I think it was old before he bought it. But Joe just… he wouldn't go down the block on his feet anymore. It was annoying."  
Jane laughed. "Oh my god, and how did you stop it?"  
"Those things stop themselves. With Joe it was after he got his first bill at the gas station. After three days of driving."  
"You're joking!"  
"Wish I was." Danny shook his head. "That boy gets into trouble whenever he can."  
"Boy?"

Danny shrugged. "Man. No matter how you call it, he'll always be my little brother. And now he's a cop as well."  
"He is? Really? And what do you think about it?"

Danny frowned. "He's my little brother, Jane. How would you feel it Frankie decided to become a cop, too?"  
Jane thought about it for a moment. "I guess I'd be proud. And worried. Really worried. I know Frankie."  
"And I know Joe…" Danny sighed. "Yeah, okay. Maybe I'm a little proud. But more worried. More worried than anything else. It's Joe, Rizzoli. He's got his girlfriend, his plans… I don't want him to lose his illusions."  
"Well… you can't save him from that, Danny."  
"I know. And it drives me crazy." Danny buried his face in his hands. "Can you get me such a drink, too? I wanna say my boys good night."

"Sure." She ordered another martini while Danny called his wife, trying not to overhear what he was saying. It was touching to see this tough guy getting soft. Maybe one day she wanted a family herself.  
With Joe Grant. Ha. Ha.

Jane ordered two martinis.

Danny grinned as he saw the two fresh glasses. "I got a bad influence on you, don't I? Well, at least next time it's gonna be me who needs to drive home."  
"You?" Jane was startled. "You're coming to Boston?"  
"Yep" Danny smiled proudly. "Jamie's accepted for Harvard. He's gonna be a lawyer."  
"Oh. Wow." Jane fought back the cynicism her brain reacted with whenever she heard the words "lawyer" or "FBI" or, worst of all, "bureaucratic problems".  
"Yes, he's gonna be just like Erin. Clever, annoying to the likes of us, and safe in a big building." Danny grinned but quickly became earnest as he saw Jane's questioning look.  
"I couldn't stand losing any of them, Jane. When I come home I try to forget everything I've seen at work, but since my boys were born… I can't shove it away like I used to do. It's my family."

Jane nodded. "I know what you mean. It wasn't easy for me and my family, being the first female detective of the precinct." She smirked. "Something Joe Grant will never be able to say from himself."  
"Oh admit it, Rizzoli, you are in love with that guy!"  
"No, I'm not!"

The evening passed by in more laughter, and slightly too much drinking. When they finally left the bar, Jane found it harder to walk straight than she cared to admit.  
Danny noticed it. "Should I call you a cab to the bus station?"  
"Forget it, Reagan!" She would not show any weakness.  
Danny chuckled. "You got your pride from your mother, Jane. Tell I still miss her apple tarts!"

He waited with her till the bus came – as his mother had told him to, he said, his voice filled with pain. She had died half a year ago.  
When the lights appeared in the dark he hugged her, shortly, collegially. Jane closed her eyes at the touch, trying not to feel anything. When Danny let her go she quickly turned around.  
"So, see you in Boston?"  
"You say it, Rizzoli! Take care. And tell Frankie not to drink and drive!" With a last wave, Danny was gone.

Jane tried to sleep as she drove back to Boston, but just as she had stopped her mind from fantasizing about Danny and was about to drift off, her cell buzzed.  
"Rizzoli?"  
"Hey, it's me."  
"Hey, Reagan. What's up?"  
"I just checked up on Joe Grant. He was at the academy with us, one year later."  
"Fine."  
"He's a good guy, Jane. He was the one who stayed with the little boy after the burning of Lion's manor."  
"Oh. That one." Now she got dating tips from the man she… no, loved was too strong a word.  
"Jane, he stayed there for more than twelve hours. At least give him a chance."  
"Good night, Reagan."  
"I just want you to be lucky."  
"Good night, Reagan."  
Another chuckle. "Good night, Rizzoli."


End file.
